*January 16, 1999 Day Three. House Managers conclude opening statements ( or why the offenses require the removal of the President ).*

Steve Buyer " perjury and bribery are side by side ", cited Judge Griffin Bell with, " A President cannot faithfully execute the laws, if he himself is breaking them " ( he added ' strike the if ' ). Buyer carefully cited Federal sentencing guidelines for both perjury and bribery, to illustrtate that perjury actually carried more ( or equal ) weight. Being an ex-military man himself, he quoted General Douglas MacArthur on the gravity of truth with, " The unbelievers will say they are but words..."

Lindsey Graham explained the past precedents of the Senate in impeachment proceedings resulting in removals. He talked about civil rights, the concurrent majority, and starting elementary school with no blacks kids in class. By the time he was nearing the completion of elementary school, the civil rights movement has taken hold and blacks were allowed in. He liked this to the way things have changed now in sexual harassment cases. He warned, " don't put your legal interests over the rule of law ". He recounted recent impeachments of Federal judges and opined, " If a Federal judge, Walter Nixon, can be thrown out of office for trying to fix his son's case, should the President be thrown out for trying to fix his own case?" He continued, " impeachment is about restoring honor to the office " and on the consequences of leaving Clinton in office said we will have " 20 months of don't do as I do, do as I say ". He believes we should " cleanse this office " and there will be " far reaching consequences " if we do not remove Bill Clinton saying, " The question is not should he stay, but what if he stays? "

Charles Canady addressed the question of " do the crimes rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors? " He summed it up with, " Perjury is a crime against the state, not a personal matter ".

After the lunch break George Gekas began with, " We have been pillaried that we simply took the Starr referral and walked into the Senate ". He brought up the House removing the charges of invoking executive privilege frivilously, from the articles of impeachment. He condemned any Senator who votes to convict because of hate or disagreement. He also condemned any Senator who votes to acquit because of friendship or party.

Henry Hyde concluded with reminding the Senators of their oath of impartiality. He further reminded them that the issue is not about adultery or sexual affairs, but lying in court under oath and a calculated obstruction of justice. He urged them to set aside party and polling. He said, " The President is the trustee of the national conscience " and he warrants " removal because he betrayed the national trust ". He read a letter from a third grade student from Chicago, who had used Clinton's getting away with lying, as a defense for his own lies. He ended with a plea for the Senators to be impartial with, " It ia not a question of who we hate, but what we love ".

Fairly dry stuff for three days. If one had read the OIC impeachment referral ( the Starr Report ), it could really get boring. You know what, boring was better than spectacular!

Some Senators were quick to run to the microphones. The Republican Senators all refused to comment on issues of guilt or innocence, but the partisan Democrats raced to create weekend media sound bites. Robert Torricelli ( D ) illustrated that he will be voting for acquittal with no regard for the evidence by repeating the Whitehouse/DNC talking points instead of addressing anything the House Managers presented. Tim Johnson ( D ) called the prosecution a " straw man " arguement and repeated the Whitehouse talking point of 900 scholars not wanting Clinton removed. *Bob Graham ( D ) declared that the House Managers had brought the case and satisfied the burdon of proof ( that's ONE, or an OSCAR nomination? ). John Breaux ( D ) still insists this was all a private affair and some other remedy should be considered. He talked about there having to be a strong public connection with the want for Clinton's impeachment ( we already knew this guy was disregarding his oath ). Carl Levin ( D ) repeated the Whitehouse talking point of Monica Lewinsky saying no one told her to lie, illustrating his non-impartiality.

- Bongo ( The President's lawyers must rebut the specific charges starting on Tuesday. )